John Ruskin wrote “The Bible of Amiens” in 1880, which Marcel Proust later translated to French. Much has changed in this city since then, which was at the epicentre of two world wars, but Ruskin’s guide to the cathedral still proves effective.

This was a story I first put out on Instagram, after my visit to Amiens, arriving by train from Paris and approaching the cathedral through the city with Ruskin as my guide.

The experience of entering this space is breathtaking. Amiens has one of the highest ceiling heights in any medieval cathedral. As Ruskin says, if you aren’t moved by this experience you’d be better off staying in the station.

The west facade is also spectacular. Ruskin’s tour takes us out through side of the building gives a full description of its sculpture and their depictions. It is a bible in stone, the meaning of which even in his time was risk of being forgotten. Proust’s essay “Death Comes to the Cathedrals” also echoes this lament, at least a century before intangible aspects of cultural heritage began to receive international focus. Both Ruskin and Proust recognised the beauty in this building being in the motivation and skill of its craftspeople, not just the work they left behind.

“and now at last … we will … go out at one of the western doors – and so see gradually rising above us in the immensity of the three porches, and of the thoughts engraved in them.”

John Ruskin, The Bible of Amiens (1880)

For more on portals, see the first chapter of my PhD thesis: “Lost Contexts: The Purpose of Portals” – Portal Propagations: Reproduction, Reception and Rediscovery in the Life of Urnes Portal.